Development of Professional Athletes in Houston and Istanbul Calvin Tsay 4/8/2014
Created for Global Urban Lab Rice University: School of Social Sciences & Kinder Institute for Urban Research
Table of Contents Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 1 Executive Summary....................................................................................................................................... 2 Report ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 3 THE ISSUE .................................................................................................................................................. 3 METHODS .................................................................................................................................................. 4 RESEARCH ................................................................................................................................................. 5 Houston Dynamo – Major League Soccer ............................................................................................. 5 Fenerbahçe S.K. – Turkish Super Lig ..................................................................................................... 7 Houston Rockets – National Basketball Association ............................................................................. 8 THE FINDINGS ......................................................................................................................................... 10 Dynamo vs Fenerbahçe ....................................................................................................................... 10 Rockets vs Fenerbahçe........................................................................................................................ 11 CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................................... 12 Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 14 Acknowledgments....................................................................................................................................... 15
1|Page
Executive Summary Houston and Istanbul are both massive global cities with successful sports teams. Soccer is a large part of the culture in Istanbul, and Fenerbahçe S.K. is one of the major teams in the city. Sports teams must have some way of finding new players and developing new talent, and the development systems used by Fenerbahçe S.K. will be compared with those used by the Houston Dynamo. Soccer is not as popular in Houston, so the Dynamo organization is not the same economic size as Fenerbahçe. The Houston Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association and are much closer in size to Fenerbahçe. In this report, the development systems of the Houston Dynamo and Houston Rockets will each be compared and contrasted with the development system of Fenerbahçe S.K., and each development system will also be individually evaluated. Fenerbahçe competes in a hypercompetitive fan environment, and the organization focuses little resources on developing talent. Instead, the organization signs players who have already proven to be the best of the best. In contrast, the Rockets and Dynamo of Houston both get many players from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. All three organizations also have their own systems or affiliated systems of developing players who are almost at the level to compete on their professional team.
2|Page
Report INTRODUCTION Sports are a large part of a city’s culture and identity. Loyal sport fans cheer on and support their favorite teams through many channels: social media, conversations with friends, the sport games themselves, etc. Fans gather at enormous stadiums to watch professional athletes compete against each other. Professional athletes are almost always the best of the best – those athletes who have demonstrated themselves to perform at the highest level, worthy to play for championships in front of fans and supporters. Depending on the sport league and country, athletes must overcome certain challenges and follow certain paths to reach the professional tier of competition. Sport leagues and governments have implemented various development leagues to identify athletic talent, develop their country’s athletic prowess, and bring new players into the game. Each form of athlete development has its advantages and disadvantages, and decision-makers often have to balance the needs of the player’s individual growth with the needs of the team to win.
THE ISSUE Although Houston and Istanbul are both global cities with large sports teams with millions of supporters, the sports teams are run very differently and pursue very different methods to develop their paid athletes. The soccer teams in the two cities, Houston’s Dynamo and Istanbul’s Fenerbahçe S.K. will be analyzed as case studies in the different development systems in professional sports between the United States and Turkey because the players develop similar skills for competing in professional soccer. Additional parallels will be provided from other sport leagues in the United States. Major League Soccer (MLS) is relatively small in the United States, and by comparing Fenerbahçe S.K. to other American sport development systems, more insights can be discovered. To compare the size, Fenerbahçe S.K. is a public company and is worth 1.75 billion Turkish Liras, or about $830 million USD (Board 2014). In Houston, a large metropolis, the Dynamo (soccer) are worth $125 million, the Astros (baseball) are worth $530 million, the Rockets (basketball) are worth $775 million, and the Texans (football) are worth $1,450 million USD (Forbes 2014). Although the net worth of Fenerbahçe S.K. includes many other sports, soccer dominates the franchise. Thus, the soccer club is about the same scale as the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other uppermiddle valued NBA teams. While NBA teams may be on the Fenerbahçe Stadium same economic scale as Fenerbahçe S.K., they may be on a 3|Page
smaller scale in terms of fans. In seating alone, Fenerbahçe plays in a stadium with 52,000 seats, selling out almost every game, even when men are banned from the match (Board 2014). The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, play in the Houston Toyota Center, which seats about 18,000 people at full capacity. Both the Dynamo and Fenerbahçe S.K. face very unique Houston Toyota Center challenges to developing athletes for their sports teams while still meeting the other goals of the team. Fenerbahçe S.K. was created in 1907 and is one of the most successful teams in Turkey. The club has won 27 national championships in soccer, and fans often do not have too much patience with sacrificing competitiveness for the sake of developing a player (Board 2014). The Dynamo organization faces similar challenges of remaining competitive, but has slightly more patience from its fans and more support from the league (MLS) to pursue development of players (Ching 2014). This report will analyze the systems of recruiting, developing, and maintaining players in the case studies of Fenerbahçe S.K. in the Turkish Super Lig, Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer, and the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association. The two American teams each share similarities with Fenerbahçe, and comparisons will be drawn between the systems of the Dynamo and Rockets and the system in Turkey.
METHODS To study the development systems in Houston, a presentation and interview were given by Brian Ching, a former player of both the Dynamo and the U.S. National Team, the general manager of the Houston Dash (the affiliated women’s soccer team), and a front-office executive for the Dynamo. The interview was supplemented with information from Dr. Clark D. Haptonstall, department chair and professor in the practice at the Rice Department of Sport Management, and from Frank Arnold, the Director of Operations at the Houston Dynamo. Similar information from Fenerbahçe S.K. was given in a panel presentation organized by Turgut Acar, the Director of International Relations for Fenerbahçe S.K. The presentation information was supplemented with information from Serdar Yildiz, Director of Finance. Hasan Çetinkaya, the Administrative Manager of the soccer team, also provided additional information in a second interview. Further information about player development was given in a panel presentation hosted by the Rice University Department of Sport Management that included Brian Michael Cooper, former president of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers; James Casey, an NFL player on the 4|Page
Philadelphia Eagles; Brittany Bock, a professional soccer player on the Houston Dash; and Jeff Nalley, a sports agent for many premier professional athletes. Literature on the development league of the NBA is more readily available through their website, previous research, and other webpages. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), also serves as a major development channel for players both in the MLS and NBA, and literature on the NCAA is also readily available.
RESEARCH Houston Dynamo – Major League Soccer
The Houston Dynamo is one of 19 teams in Major League Soccer (MLS). The MLS contains teams in both the United States and in Canada and is expanding, with a goal of 24 teams by the year 2020 and expansion teams set soon for Orlando, New York, and Miami. The MLS was not the first major professional soccer league to be established in America, and in fact was not established until 1993 as a part of the United States’ bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup (About Major League Soccer 2008). The previous soccer leagues in the United States had folded because of economic collapse, leading to unique policies for the MLS to ensure its stability. The MLS is in fact a single entity containing 19 teams, of which the owners are shareholders in the MLS. Ownership groups all share the net profits and losses of MLS at the end of each year, and the league pays all of its professional players. Since the league pays players, a salary cap is set for each team at $3.1 million USD, with an exception given for three designated players who are paid $400 thousand by the league against the salary cap and can be paid any amount additionally by the team personally. Trying to keep younger talent in the United States, the MLS also allows two “homegrown” players on each team who do not count towards this salary cap (Ching 2014). The Dynamo is a very successful team, having moved from San Jose to Houston in 2006. Since the move to Houston, they have won 6 conference finals, appearing in 4 MLS cups, and winning 2 MLS cups. The team plays at BBVA Compass Stadium, which seats over 22,000 fans, in downtown Houston, which is both a “good soccer city” and a “tough soccer city” according to Brian BBVA Compass Stadium Ching (Ching 2014). While the Dynamo are not lacking in fans (second in Houston behind only the Houston Texans of the National Football League in per game attendance), the passion of some fans could be increased. As Ching says, 5|Page
“one of the things that our league is struggling with is not so much attendance, but it’s TV viewership. People outside Houston aren’t really watching the Houston Dynamo … Soccer is so accessible on TV that people that come to Houston from wherever they are tend to stay and follow and watch [sic] their teams because their teams are on TV all the time” (Ching 2014). Although winning makes going to watch a soccer game enjoyable, it is not the only factor in enjoyment, and many fans whose loyalties lie with a soccer team in Mexico, Europe, or elsewhere are going to Dynamo games just to watch a game on the weekend. Since more pressure is on making going to the games fun rather than winning every single match, the Dynamo can also work on developing new players into professional soccer. In addition, the MLS allows some of the Dynamo players in development to not count against the roster limit or salary cap. The Dynamo, like all other MLS teams, are also required to have an academy to train young players, specifically players under 18. Players in the team’s academy are protected to the team, so the team has the right to sign the player as a “homegrown player” outside the MLS draft once they finish college or are ready to sign with the Dynamo first team. The Dynamo Academy aims to “provide a professional soccer learning environment where players can strive to fulfill their full potential” and “to produce MLS standard players and young men capable of being successful in a non-professional soccer environment” (Houston Dynamo 2014). While chartered improving a player’s soccer play, the Academy also focuses to teach young men honesty, ambition, hard work, commitment, respect, integrity, humility, sportsmanship, responsibility, and teamwork (Houston Dynamo 2014). These are certainly traits looked for by professional soccer teams and may play a part of determining when a player is mentally ready for professional sports. In Dynamo U12 Academy addition to preparing young athletes for play at higher levels of competition, the academies connect the Dynamo organization with the Houston community. According to Brittany Bock, a midfielder on the Houston Dash, the Dynamo organization is built around community bonding, and the team depends on a good “…correlation between team and community” (To Draft or Not to Draft? 2014). Generation Adidas is another program run by the MLS to develop young players; however, entering this program classifies a player as professional and thus disqualifies them from playing college soccer. These players are guaranteed scholarships to continue college education after their professional soccer career. These players are intended to “graduate” to the senior roster when they no longer need the roster protection allowed by the Generation Adidas program.
6|Page
Another important channel for players in the MLS and all other American sports is the NCAA. The MLS college draft allows teams to select players based on how they finished in the playoffs, allowing worse teams to draft the best players to balance out the teams. In the NCAA, players learn to work within a framework of a team, work with an experienced coach, and compete in highly-competitive games for championships. The challenge then lies on college coaches to balance playing to win with player development. The roles of teaching and managing the game may often seem counterproductive, but there are many strategies by which coaches make decisions when they seemingly have to decide between the two. Since the quality of many college programs is judged by the number of games they win, many times coaches will make decisions that will win the game and are not necessarily the best for the development of the team’s players.
Fenerbahçe S.K. – Turkish Super Lig Fenerbahçe S.K., founded in 1907, is the most-highly-valued sport franchise in the Turkish Super Lig (TSL). The Turkish Super Lig is one of the top leagues in the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), with the winner of the TSL automatically qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage. Unlike teams in the MLS, Fenerbahçe S.K. is a corporation, and in fact Fenerbahçe is the largest NGO in Turkey. Fenerbahçe has its own TV channel, radio station, magazine, and card, and is on par with Barcelona and Chelsea in sales by the club. Since Fenerbahçe S.K. is its own entity, players are signed in a capitalist system in the Turkish Super Lig. Teams pay their own players, unlike the MLS, and players may sign with teams that will pay him the most. The club must only follow the regulations set by FIFA, allowing players to sign up to 5 year contracts with no salary cap after their eighteenth birthdays. Fenerbahçe S.K. has an estimated 25 million fans, and the soccer team competes in Fenerbahçe stadium, which seats over 52,000 fans. The Turkish Super Lig sets some requirements in an Fenerbahçe Team effort to keep soccer talent in Turkey. Teams in the TSL are only allowed a maximum of six foreign-born players on their senior roster. The senior team consists of elite athletes, with most players also playing either on the Turkish national soccer team or the soccer team of their home countries, including five players who will compete in the 2014 World Cup (2 from Portugal, 1 from Holland, 1 from Cameroon, and 1 from Nigeria) (Cetinkaya 2014). The process of finding and developing young talent in Turkey is very different from the process in the United States. There is no NCAA league for collegiate athletes, and in fact most athletes do not go to college. Fenerbahçe S.K. does not participate in a yearly draft, but instead 7|Page
is left to locate and sign players itself. According to the Administrative Manager Hasan Çetinkaya, the team looks for certain traits when signing new players: potential, quality, experience, fan opinion, and player image. Fan influence plays a large role in the selection of players for the Fenerbahçe team. Fans often keep up with soccer across Europe and already know players before they are signed from foreign teams or from Turkey. According to James Casey and Dr. Clark Haptonstall, fans like a connection with the professional athlete, and many fans constantly monitor professional players and keep up with their athletic careers and personal lives (To Draft or Not to Draft? 2014). Fans have little patience for development and want to see the Fenerbahçe team win each year, and the team considers each year they do not win the Turkish championship a failure (Cetinkaya 2014). With so much pressure to win, Fenerbahçe can only afford to sign the highest-level of players and rarely signs younger players with the intention of developing them into a premier athlete. Fenerbahçe has a youth department managed by the same ownership and with no foreigners, but few players ever make it from the youth department onto the Fenerbahçe team. According to Çetinkaya, there is a large gap between 18 year olds in the youth league and firstyear professional players in physical level of performance, ability to handle pressure, and ability to keep up with competition level. Turkish teams will often instead loan out players to other clubs, such as second or third division teams, for the players to develop. These players are often not fond of the loaning process, and the relationship between teams is often an unhealthy partnership. There is no affiliated minor league in which to develop players, and the general reasoning of the Turkish Super Lig is that Turkish players should be developed to benefit the Turkish national team, limiting development systems because only a few players will make the national team. Most new stars are therefore signed from European leagues, and Çetinkaya highlights a trend of great players moving southeast through their careers, starting in the European leagues, moving to the Turkish league as they age and may not be able to garner as lucrative a European contract, and eventually moving to the Middle Eastern leagues.
Houston Rockets – National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is often considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the world, and the players are paid the highest in the world, by average annual salary per player (Sporting Intelligence 2012). Founded in 1946, the league consists of 29 teams in the United States and one team in Canada (Goldaper n.d.). The NBA Development League (D-League) was founded much later, created in 2001 with only eight teams. In 2005, NBA commissioner David Stern set a goal to expand the D-League to fifteen teams and into a true minor league system with D-League teams affiliated to NBA teams. The Houston Rockets compete in the NBA and were established in 1967 in San Diego, California, 8|Page
moving to Houston shortly after, in 1971. The Rockets have since made 26 playoff appearances and won two NBA championships. The main source of new players to the NBA is the draft system, with players selected either from NCAA or international teams by teams arranged by season performance and lottery system. NCAA basketball is the major source of players for the NBA draft, but has critics who believe many star players pursue the collegiate level of athletics solely to compete in sport and fail to be “student-athletes”. Because the minimum age of competition in the NBA is set at 19, most players cannot proceed straight from high school into an NBA team, though they may be physically ready. The Dallas Mavericks are a team similar in both size and location to the Houston Rockets and also have a D-League affiliate. The Owner of the Mavericks, Mark Cuban, said he “…can envision scenarios where the country’s top basketball prospects would get drafted and play in the D-League rather than spend one season at an NCAA school” (Mark Cuban: NCAA stars better off in D-League 2014). Cuban also has said he would prefer the minimum age of the NBA to be raised to 21. With a higher age limit, Cuban says he would envision a draft from the D-League as well as one from NCAA players who have played longer than a year. He also suggested that players would develop better on the basketball level in the D-League, and that scholarships be given for players who do not make it to the NBA. Supporters of the NCAA system cite the quality of coaching in the NCAA, importance of games, and emphasis on teamwork. The Rockets have an affiliate team in the NBA D-League, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Players on the D-League team are often athletes who would not receive playing time in the NBA. According to Brian Michael Cooper, former Vipers president, most players in the D-League will be “role players” in NBA teams, not star players; however, the league Aaron Brooks – From D-League to NBA is the second most talented professional basketball league in the world. Players in the D-League have been the best at every level of competition previously, and their mentality shifts from dreaming of going to the NBA one day to wondering if they will ever succeed in finding a professional career in basketball. Playing in the D-League is essentially an audition for employment in the NBA, and great players do not stay on minor league teams for long. Scouts from the NBA teams look for athletic skill, but also other signs of development, including involvement with community, leadership ability, and commitment to team chemistry and success (To Draft or Not to Draft? 2014).The minimum age for D-League players is 18, and the Vipers are also able to sign their own players, sometimes ones who just graduated high school. The Houston Rockets assign players to the Vipers and call up players from the Vipers to play for them. Many successful NBA players once received training in the 9|Page
Development League, including Aaron Brooks, Steve Novak, Shannon Brown, and Marcus Morris, who all previously played on the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
THE FINDINGS Dynamo vs Fenerbahçe
To analyze the development systems of the Dynamo and Fenerbahçe, the process of development must first be analyzed. Sport science has shown that it is critical to focus on intrinsic motivators such as goals and personal development for optimal athletic development (Deci and Ryan, 1985). An athlete who only focuses the external construct of winning a game rarely benefits from skill development as much as an athlete who focuses on meeting personal goals throughout his or her performance. An expert athlete has demonstrated the ability to perform at the highest level of his or her sport with relative consistency. Challenge is essential to athletic development, but athletes must also be cognizant of game situations and capable of attaining successful outcomes (wins) (Naylor 2006). While players often compete at the high school level before playing professionally in both leagues, Çetinkaya says the top high school players eventually run out of challenge at the high school level long before they graduate. This is the equivalent of putting the smartest minds in science in school in the same class for four years and asking them to learn much more each year (Cetinkaya 2014). In the United States, only .04% of high school soccer players end up in the MLS, and even at the collegiate level, only 1.0% of NCAA players will play professionally (Business Insider 2012). By allowing elite players to skip the collegiate (and sometimes highschool) level of competition, Turkish teams allow top players to begin the professional level of competition and development much earlier, contributing to the success of the players. The Houston Dynamo organization undoubtedly has more resources for young players to develop in their academies, and the Dynamo currently even have two players on their team, Tyler Deric and Bryan Salazar, who previously played with the Dynamo Academy. In contrast, few players from the Fenerbahçe’s youth development program make it onto the Fenerbahçe soccer squad; instead, most players on the team are signed from other Turkish teams or second-tier Turkish teams. Many of the academy teams lack the same competitiveness, and the matches simply are not very important since there are few fans. Players who are able to compete at lower divisions of professional play may still be competing at a lower level, but learn to play for fans and for contracts. The Dynamo Academy also provides a channel for the Dynamo organization to remain connected to the city of Houston. The Dynamo organization makes a large effort to run events and activities benefitting their fans in Houston, which undoubtedly increases support for the team. 10 | P a g e
Fenerbahçe loans players that they believe can eventually compete at the first team level successfully to second or third tier soccer teams in hopes of getting them back in the future after developing their skills. The process of loaning players to other clubs is similar to having players compete at the NCAA level for a few years before they are ready to compete at the highest level, but loaned players are still professional players on contracts, while NCAA athletes are students competing against many student-athletes who will not play at the professional level.
Rockets vs Fenerbahçe
The main feeder of the Rockets team, the NCAA, may lack challenge and competitiveness for professional-tier players. Only .03% of high school players and 1.2% of college basketball athletes end up playing professionally, so players at these levels of competition who are NBA-bound may not be competing against peers at their own skill level (Business Insider 2012). Supporters of the NCAA system who cite its coaching often realize that coaches must balance the drive to win games with the drive to fully develop all players, some of whom may not desire a professional career in basketball. While most will agree that the majority of decisions should focus on participation and fun, and that most decisions in highlyskilled professional athletes should be focused on winning championships and victories, the decision is often unclear for coaches during developing years such as the NCAA, which is a mechanism for player development but also weighs teams based on wins (Naylor 2006). Joe Paterno, a NCAA football coaching legend, is a great example of a successful coach who prioritized his role as a teacher, responsible for the complete development of collegiate athletes The 2013 NBA Draft (O’Brien 1999). tTh The Development League is the second most talented professional basketball league in the world, and most players in the League are capable at playing at the NBA level (To Draft or Not to Draft? 2014). Players developing in the D-League do not have to worry as much about the level of competition, but can focus on competing and developing both on and off the court to eventually catch the eye of an NBA team. The close affiliation between the D-League and the NBA allows NBA teams to monitor players in the D-League and keep track of prospects who they could consider adding. Teams in the Turkish Super Lig must send players on loan to other teams to develop, often forcing players to compete in different countries. While this allows players to develop, players are competing far from home and from the team that sent them on
11 | P a g e
loan. This process makes it more difficult for coaches and managers to keep track of players’ development processes, and some players eventually end up playing in foreign nations for their career instead of returning to play in Turkey (Cetinkaya 2014). Fenerbahçe Administrative Manager Hasan Çetinkaya says a major problem with the Turkish Super Lig is the lack of an affiliated minor league where players can be developed. Players either must be sent off to compete at a worse team, which does not have the best feedback, or must be held on the Fenerbahçe squad without getting to play. As an example, Fenerbahçe had a seventeen-year-old player who was extremely talented – he had been offered 10 million Euros (about $14 million USD) to play in Rome – but he stayed with Fenerbahçe and did not play very much in games because he was very young and undeveloped. An affiliated development league similar to the NBA Development League would allow Turkish teams to assign their players who have potential to the development league to continue to compete and develop until they are ready to compete with the senior squad, but would limit the flexibility of finding professional players. Without an affiliated minor league system, Turkish squads such as Fenerbahçe may go to second-tier teams and sign players to fill positions, but an affiliated minor league would only allow Fenerbahçe to sign players from their own minor league affiliate. A minor league in Turkey would also create a pool of players who will never make it into the professional sporting world, as only well-known and elite players make it onto the professional teams in the TSL, and positions are often filled with by foreign stars.
CONCLUSIONS The Houston Dynamo, Fenerbahçe S.K., and the Houston Rockets all face unique challenges in bringing players to the professional league and developing them. All three organizations must balance the need to win and remain competitive with the need to develop young talent and keep the sport in their country. The Houston Rockets in the NBA have a unique development league with affiliated teams, and the Rockets and Dynamo share the NCAA, a system of collegiate sports in which athletes compete with high-level coaching and peers. Fenerbahçe S.K. exists in a hypercompetitive league in which only the greatest players get signed and there is no room for error in any season. The team develops potential players by loaning players to second-tier or third-tier professional teams. The Houston Dynamo organization runs the Dynamo Academy, allowing the organization to connect with Houston and to find potential players from its own community. This program allows players to begin development at a very early age and will give young players a source of competition with quality peers; however, many players participating in the Academy will not make it onto the Dynamo professional team. The service benefits the fans and greater community, but may not be a major source of professional players. The Dynamo also 12 | P a g e
runs programs with Generation Adidas, allowing players to play professionally instead of going to college, but this program still does not guarantee players the chance to play on the Houston Dynamo. The NCAA draft is a large source of professional soccer players for the MLS, but may be lacking in competitiveness for premier-level players. Fenerbahรงe S.K. is a company that is free to sign players however it chooses, as long as the roster satisfies a few minimal requirements set by the Turkish Super Lig. This process gives players a greater sense of who is going to succeed in finding a professional career at an earlier stage, but prohibits many local potential talents from discovery or athletic development. Fenerbahรงe runs a few youth development programs, but they are mostly for community connection and almost no players come from these programs. To develop some players who may be close to competing with the first team, Fenerbahรงe may loan players to second or third tier teams to compete, but this process creates a gap between players and the team. The Houston Rockets similarly draft many of their players from the NCAA, which has the same benefits and drawbacks as the NCAA draft system in which the Houston Dynamo participates. The NBA also has a closely-affiliated development league which allows players to play for professional contracts with premier talent and get scouted by NBA teams. The development league is arguably the second most talented professional basketball league in the world, and some believe that players would develop more at this level than competing against lower talent in the NCAA (Mark Cuban: NCAA stars better off in D-League 2014). The success of the development league relies on connections between the teams and their communities, and many players in the development leagues will never make it into the NBA. There are many advantages and disadvantages to each system of player development discussed. The development systems are constantly revised or reinvented to continually find better ways to identify and train athletes who have the capacity to compete professionally.
13 | P a g e
Works Cited "About Major League Soccer." MLSnet. September 5. Accessed April 5, 2014. Anatolia News Agency. 2013. "Fenerbahce beats its rivals on stock market." Hurriyet Daily News. January 22. Accessed April 6, 2014. Board, Fenerbahce, Presentation to and Interview by Global Urbna Lab. 2014. (March). Business Insider. 2012. Odds College Athletes Become Professionals. Accessed April 5, 2014. Cetinkaya, Hasan, interview by Calvin Tsay. 2014. Administrative Manager (March). Ching, Brian, Presentation to Global Urban Lab. 2014. Houston Dynamo (February 4). Deci, E L, and R M Ryan. 1985. Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York: Plenum Press. Erdem. 2005. Fenerbahce Stadium. March 26. Accessed Aprol 8, 2014. ESPN. 2013. "2013 NBA Draft Class." NBA Photos Gallery. Forbes. 2014. Teams. Accessed April 6, 2014. Goldaper, Sam. n.d. NBA: The First Game. Accessed April 5, 2014. Houston Dynamo. 2014. Academy Philosophy. Accessed April 5, 2014. Kirikhan Haber. 2013. Bate Borisov vs Fenerbahce. Accessed May 13, 2014. —. 2014. Academy U-12. Accessed April 8, 2014. Inside Arenas. 2014. Toyota Center. Accessed April 8, 2014. 2014. "Mark Cuban: NCAA stars better off in D-League." NBA NEws. March 1. Accessed April 5, 2014. Naylor, Adam H. 2006. "The Coach's Dilemma: Balancing Playing to Win and Player Development." Journal of Education, Boston University 31-49. NBA Development League. 2004. NBA.com. Accessed Aprol 4, 2014. O'Brien, M. 1999. No ordinary Joe. Nashville, TN: Rutledge Hill Press. Sporting Intelligence. 2012. REVEALED: The World's Best Paid Teams, Man City close in on Barca and Real Madrid. May 1. Accessed April 5, 2014. "To Draft or Not to Draft?" An Exploration of Athlete Images. Panel. Rice University, April 10.
14 | P a g e
Acknowledgments I would like to thank the Rice School of Social Sciences and the Kinder Institute for providing me the opportunity to complete this project. I would also like to thank all the people who helped in the planning of the Global Urban Lab program and who provided presentations and information in both Houston and Istanbul. This project required the assistance of several mentors to complete all the research. Thank you to Dr. Nia Georges for the support and advice throughout the research proves. To Dean Ipek Martinez, thank you for the opportunity to travel to Turkey and to learn about the differences between the cities of Istanbul and Houston. It was so great to travel not only as a tourist but to get to go behind the scenes and see how the city functions. The Sport Management Department at Rice was also incredibly supportive. Thank you to Dr. Clark D. Hamptonstall for setting up meetings with the Houston Dynamo and to the Rice Sport Business Society for setting up a great panel presentation. Thank you to Brian Ching, Frank Arnold, and the Houston Dynamo organization for providing information and being very helpful. Thank you to Turgut Acar, Hasan Çetinkaya, and the rest of Fenerbahçe for being so open. I would have never expected a large sports team to be so helpful in my research endeavor.
15 | P a g e